Another World
by NamelessFisch
Summary: One-shot. Summary, er, well... Sheena and Lloyd are in danger - what will happen? Not much ToS, but a bit Sheeloyd.


Disclaimer: I don't own neither Tales of Symphonia nor the characters in it, but I own my ideas of course, so don't steal them.

A/N: Just a short story (not really based on ToS however) I had an idea for lately. Not much to tell about it, it'll be best you just read it. I was not that sure about the category, but whatever. By the way: What does 'angst' mean? I know it's German word which means 'fear' - is it that?

Well, as mentioned in the summary, this one is a bit Sheeloyd in it. I hope you enjoy it!

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"Hold on, Sheena! Just hold on a little longer!" Lloyd shouted to the woman lying on the ground in front of him. Hastily, he searched their bags for some lemon gels.

"I'm scared", Sheena said weakly, the shock clearly present in her shaky voice.

"Don't worry, I won't let that... thing get you again!" Finally, Lloyd found some gels and immediately started using them on Sheena's wounds.

She had several cuts and abrasions, and at least her left arm was broken. Lloyd was terrified by the look she had in her eyes, the sight of her body, although none of her injuries seemed to be lethal.

"Your wounds are not so bad, the gels will do their work", he said softly. "But I can't take care of your arm..."

Still shocked, Sheena didn't listen to what Lloyd said, she just looked into his eyes. "What happened here? What is that supposed to mean?" she asked fearfully, crying.

What had happened?

After defeating Mithos and reuniting the two worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'Alla, Lloyd and Sheena went on their journey to collect and destroy all the exspheres. It was a hard task for the two of them, not knowing where to look for the crystals, how to convince their wearers to abandon them.

Despite of all the difficulties they had been quite successfully, and they had enjoyed their time together without having the others around, preventing them from sharing private moments most of the time. During their current quest the two had gotten even closer to each other, so they had planned to marry on their return and destroy their own exspheres as part of the wedding ceremony.

But now, several months after their departure, they had to deal with a problem they had never before encountered. A few days ago, they had checked the former Asgard Human Ranch for exspheres and had decided to search the mountains around it afterwards. There, however, it had happened.

It began with a grumbling and sparkling sound coming out of nowhere, the air felt like being charged up with pure energy. Not much later, the sound became crackling, increased in loudness when suddenly a black sphere the size of a human head appeared a few steps in front of the two heroes. It was hovering in the air, spinning with sparks coming out of it like tentacles scanning the environment.

A little later, everything calmed down. The sphere stopped spinning, the sound and the sparks where gone, leaving complete silence. But then, all of a sudden, the sphere starting screaming in multiple voices at the same time and started to grow. It formed convexities which soon took the shape of four limbs and a head.

Finally, the sphere had transformed into a huge humanoid being with matt grey skin, looking like some kind of metal, it's head was bordered by several horns, it's face showed the true and evil look of a mighty demon. The arms ended in large claws with long and sharp talons, two enormous bat-like wings stuck out from the back.

After it had ended its screaming, it immediately looked at the two small humans at its feet. A moment later, it had already hit Sheena with its claw, tossing the young woman into the air. Lloyd, who had been standing not as close to the demon as Sheena, was shocked by the quickness of that creature, yet was able to spread his wings and flew back.

Sheena thudded hard on the stony underground and skidded several feet until she remained motionless. A little later, Lloyd landed by her side.

"Sheena!" he shouted worriedly. "Damn!" Lloyd looked back, seeing the demon walk towards them. He grabbed the wounded Sheena, causing her to groan in pain. "I'm sorry, but I have to get you away from here!"

The warrior swung his wings and ascended into the air, but the demon was already too close to let Lloyd escape upwards. Fortunately, he spotted a cave inside the cliff not too far away, so he decreased his height as much as possible to gain speed and headed for the cave.

That had been a few minutes ago. He had reached the cave without further harm, but the demon was still there. However, it hadn't tried to get into the cave yet, it had just stopped in front of the entrance and seemed to wait.

Normally, a situation like this could be mastered with ease by the wielder of the Eternal Sword - but due to an unknown reason, Lloyd was not able to call upon Origin by using the sword. So all he could do at the moment was to take care of his love.

"I don't know what this is supposed to mean, I haven't seen a creature like this before", Lloyd said anxiously. "You feel better already?" he asked Sheena and stroked her cheek.

"I don't want to die!" she whined.

"You won't die! Sheena, you hear me?" Lloyd said loudly.

Sheena didn't answer, instead touched his hand with her right one and closed her eyes. Lloyd leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "You are supposed to stay with me, so I will not allow you to die."

"Sometimes people do not obey", said a deep and hollow, yet calm and pleasant voice.

Sheena shrieked, Lloyd immediately jumped to his feet and drew his swords, turning to the direction he supposed the voice to come from. But due to the lack of light inside the cave, he could not see anything but darkness. "Who are you?" he shouted.

"Who and what I am, that lies beyond your imaginative powers. Fear not, I have not come to harm you", the voice said.

"Yeah, sure... why should I trust you?"

"The simple answer is: Because I speak the truth. I know this answer does not satisfy you, but this is not important. I have to admit, I am responsible for the pain you are suffering, so I shall at least prevent it from lasting any longer."

"Wait! Did you just say that you summoned that... monster out there?" Lloyd pointed one of his swords towards the demon waiting in front of the cave.

"No. I did not summon it, I created it."

Lloyds chin dropped. "You... what? You created that beast? Why the hell...?"

"It was not supposed to enter this world."

"What do you mean? There's another world? What's going on here?"

"I will explain later, let me first heal the wounds your beloved one has received."

"Hey! Hold your horses! I won't let you touch her until you have explained me what's going on here! Understood?" Lloyd shouted in a commanding manner.

"There is no need to react like this. I do not have to touch her, the healing process is actually taking place already."

"Lloyd..." Sheena said in awe.

"Sheena! Are you okay?"

"My... my arm... it's crawling, and... my body... it feels... warm..."

Lloyd rushed over to her, forgetting the voice for a moment. "Your wounds..." he said being surprised. "They are vanishing! Can you... move your arm?"

Sheena tried to move her arm and could do so without feeling any pain. "Yeah, it seems to be all right, it doesn't hurt anymore!" she called out happily.

"I told you I am here to end your pain", the voice told.

Being reminded of the third presence in the cave, Lloyd quickly got up to his feet again. "I would thank you, but you said you created that monster, so I don't feel like thanking you."

"There is indeed nothing you should thank me for."

"Well, if you created the monster, can you kill it?"

"The things I create can never be destroyed, but I will take the demon to its destined place."

As soon as the voice had ended, the demon started to scream again in multiple voices. Sheena sat up and watched with Lloyd how the demon transformed back into the sphere it had been before, then the sphere just disappeared.

"Now, feel free to ask me any question you want to", the voice offered.

"How did you heal me?" Sheena asked being quicker than Lloyd. "Is it some kind of magic?"

"No, it is not magic. Simply spoken, I wanted you to be healed and so it happened."

"Are you... a god?" Lloyd asked hesitantly.

"Well, it depends on the definition of god you have in mind. Measured on the powers and abilities I own here, I am some kind of god. But this is not the place I belong to, so I must negate that question."

"What do you mean? You talked of another world earlier - I thought there are only Tethe'Alla, Sylvarant and Derris-Kharlan?"

"The worlds you know of belong all to the same area of space. There are practically unlimited different worlds completely independent to another. However, it is impossible for you as well as for everyone else to know of these worlds unless I or another one of my kind wants you to."

"Huh? There are more of you? How many? And... do you live in one of these... worlds?" Lloyd wanted to know.

"There are so many of us it would go beyond the scope of your imagination. We all are living in the same world, yes, but it is of a different kind than this one or the others I spoke of."

"Different? What do you mean? In what way different?" Sheena asked.

"The world we live in is the only one we had not created ourselves."

"You can... create worlds? You created our world?" Lloyd said in astonishment. "And... who created your world?"

"We do not know who created our world. Unfortunately, our powers are very limited there, so many of us prefer staying in the worlds they created. However, some of us get lost by doing so or even die. But to answer you other questions: Yes, we are not only able to create worlds, we create things and worlds all the time. Of course, we also created your world."

"Wow..." Lloyd whispered.

"You created us then, too, right?" Sheena asked. "Why? Why are we supposed to live? And... what happens when we die?"

"Yes, you were created by us as well. I am afraid I cannot answer the other questions."

"But... why?"

"I do not wish to tell you why you live. Regarding death, even no one of us knows the answer. I suppose that the created worlds die when everyone of who knows about them has died. And we do not know what happens when we die. You see, I cannot tell you anything about death."

"I have only one more question", Lloyd said. "Why did that monster come into this world? You said it wasn't supposed to?"

"That is correct, the demon was part of another world I created. Anything we create is always with us, no matter if we are aware of it or not. The demon was able to slip into this world because I was inattentive for a moment. I am sorry for the trouble it caused you."

"That... is kinda scary..." Sheena claimed. "If there are so many of you, couldn't it happen any time again?"

"Theoretically, yes. But do not worry, this world is dedicated to the two of you, and there are many eyes keeping watch over you. Besides that, even if you should die by an unwanted incident, one of us could simply revive you. I know it must sound frightening to you, but there is no need to worry."

"I'm feeling really small and petty right now..." Lloyd said. "I don't like that feeling."

"Yeah, me neither", Sheena affirmed.

"How petty can you be when you two got each other? As I said, this world is dedicated to you."

"What... do you mean? I don't think I understand that", Lloyd stated.

"Live to know the answer. Just live. And now, I have to leave you. Again, I am sorry for the incident I caused, I hope you will never see me again. Farewell."

"Wait! Don't go!" Sheena called - but got no answer.

"Well, that was really strange..." Lloyd said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah..."

"I wonder what he meant, I really don't get it."

"I don't know either. But there is something I know, Lloyd."

"Yeah? What is it?" Lloyd asked curiously.

"I know that as long as I exist, no matter of what form this existence will be, I will love you, Lloyd", Sheena said lovingly and grabbed the warrior.

"I love you, too, Sheena", Lloyd said and put his arms around her.

The two lovers shared a long and tender kiss, hugging each other tightly. All the pain, all the sorrow was forgotten, time had no meaning. All they needed was right there in their arms, in their hearts.

A while later, they ended their kiss, stared into each other's eyes instead. "There's also something I know", Lloyd said. "We are living in this world, that's for sure. So, even if we don't know why and what will happen, whatever, I will work hard to make it a better world, and I will dedicate it to you."

"That sounds good", Sheena said, smiling happily. "But don't think I will let you do all the work alone." Then, she pulled him into another kiss.

After also the second kiss had ended, Lloyd looked at the entrance of the cave.

Sheena noticed the expression in his face. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Well", Lloyd answered, "I'm just wondering why I never used my wings to offer you a flight." He turned back to Sheena. "Er... I did carry you inside this cave, but that doesn't count. So, what about it? You're up for a ride?"

"I would love to", she replied warmly.

Soon, Lloyd glided through the air with Sheena in his arms. She had her arms around his neck, her head leaned on his shoulder.

"It's good to know someone is watching over us, isn't it?" she asked some time later.

"Uhm... I hope they don't watch us all the time..." Lloyd answered.

The two shared a short laugh. Then, Sheena huddled against Lloyd and they enjoyed the flight.

"Fear not", a dark and hollow voice whispered to no one in the middle of nowhere.

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A/N: Well, not much, just some thoughts packed into a fiction. I think it should be clear, but I ask anyway: What do you think is "the voice" / its owner? (Is there any way to reply to reviewers without doing it via a new chapter?)

Well, this is it, there is no need to continue this story (at least I didn't plan to continue it), please review! Thanks in advance as well as for reading!


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